to modify bell schedules at 30 schools. The new times go into effect at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
This decision preserves busing for students at a time when neighboring districts are cutting services and saves about $1 million in the face of districtwide financial challenges. It is also the first step in a multi-year plan to align bell schedules by grade level, with the goals of saving additional money and expanding busing services in future years.
The board voted to adopt the Scenario A schedule, which was favored by those who took a communitywide survey asking for feedback on two scenarios.
As a result, school start and dismissal times will shift by:
- 5-10 minutes at 10 schools
- 11-20 minutes at 13 schools
- 21-30 minutes at seven schools
- Nineteen school schedules will NOT change.
See bell times for each school on the School Start and Dismissal Times web page. >>
Why this change, why now?
As part of an ongoing commitment to improvement and annual budget development, schools and departments look for ways to prioritize students and operate as efficiently as possible. Working with an outside firm specializing in routing, the Transportation Department determined that it could save money and minimize disruptions to busing services due to staffing shortages through a routing optimization process.
If PSD didn’t optimize and reduce the number of routes, there was a real risk of not being able to run all routes every day. The ongoing, nationwide and local shortage of bus drivers could lead to interruptions in service. Making this change now also results in savings of about $1 million to $1.5 million.
PSD is facing fiscal challenges because of the decline in student enrollment, inflation, and increasing benefits costs. Fewer students mean fewer dollars. In a district where about 85% of a roughly $400 million budget goes to pay for people, any cut is felt acutely, and any savings are even more critical.
What’s next?
The bell schedule changes approved by the board go into effect for the 2024-25 school year. Along with its vote Tuesday, the board also charged staff with looking for even more optimization within the Transportation Department and making districtwide changes to create long-term consistency for our families.
By making steps toward a system where bell times are standardized to the maximum extent possible – as in elementary schools start at the same time, middle schools start at the same time, and high schools start at the same time, PSD could reduce the overall number of bus routes and drivers currently needed from 122 to about 85.
The hope is that PSD could then offer busing to 100% choice schools for the first time ever; this has not been possible under the current model. Currently, about one in four families choose to send their students to a school other than their neighborhood school, known as School Choice. PSD has historically only been able to provide busing services to neighborhood schools for students who meet certain requirements and for whom transportation is legally required.
Expanding busing services is beneficial for families who might not have the ability to transport their students to a 100% choice school.
We recognize that students, families, staff and community members may face challenges while adjusting to the newly approved bell schedules and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding in advance.